helpdesk4pc.com

Thursday, 1 December 2011

Today I received a call from a guy who claimed himself to be from 'Windows Service Centre' and stated that I have problems in my computer. To be honest yes I have been facing troubles with my computer and thus I believed in what he was saying! He said my computer is affected by virus and my PC is going to crash!!! I became worried and asked him what i could do to prevent this, to save my computer from the loss. He asked me to go to a website www.ammyy.com and took access of my computer and showed me the so called 'virus', 'junk files' etc.

When I asked how would I clean these up, he asked me to purchase a package of $150, and I did!!!! Silly me! I purchased the package from my paypal account and they downloaded another website something called Team Viewer. And said the technician would work on my PC so I should leave it.

Yes, my PC was cleaned up and I am suspicious I have nothing left now!!! They have accessed all my files, folders and God knows what else!! They have got all my credit card details too!! Ah!

I have filed a case from my paypal account i.e. charge back and I will not be convinced anyway. I would request you not to be fooled like the way I was being fooled by this company! I wonder if they are calling me from Microsoft then why their domain names are different? Why not @Microsoft.com or something similar? Did you ever look at the paypal mail? I am going to read the mail once again with the details of my purchase, that one includes their original mail ID and I will post it here shortly after I get all the reuired details.

Avoid tech support phone scams

Cybercriminals don't just send fraudulent email messages and set up fake websites. They might also call you on the telephone and claim to be from Microsoft. They might offer to help solve your computer problems or sell you a software license. Once they have access to your computer, they can do the following:

Trick you into installing malicious software that could capture sensitive data, such as online banking user names and passwords. They might also then charge you to remove this software.

Take control of your computer remotely and adjust settings to leave your computer vulnerable.

Request credit card information so they can bill you for phony services.

Direct you to fraudulent websites and ask you to enter credit card and other personal or financial information there.

Neither Microsoft nor our partners make unsolicited phone calls (also known as cold calls) to charge you for computer security or software fixes.

Telephone tech support scams: What you need to know

Cybercriminals often use publicly available phone directories so they might know your name and other personal information when they call you. They might even guess what operating system you're using.

Once they've gained your trust, they might ask for your user name and password or ask you to go to a website to install software that will let them access your computer to fix it. Once you do this, your computer and your personal information is vulnerable.

Do not trust unsolicited calls. Do not provide any personal information.

Here are some of the organizations that cybercriminals claim to be from:

Windows Helpdesk

Windows Service Center

Microsoft Tech Support

Microsoft Support

Windows Technical Department Support Group

Microsoft Research and Development Team (Microsoft R & D Team)

Report phone scams

Learn about how to report phone fraud in the United States. Outside of the US, contact your local authorities.

How to protect yourself from telephone tech support scams

If someone claiming to be from Microsoft tech support calls you:

Do not purchase any software or services.

Ask if there is a fee or subscription associated with the "service." If there is, hang up.

Never give control of your computer to a third party unless you can confirm that it is a legitimate representative of a computer support team with whom you are already a customer.

Take the caller's information down and immediately report it to your local authorities.

Never provide your credit card or financial information to someone claiming to be from Microsoft tech support.

What to do if you already gave information to a tech support person

If you think that you might have downloaded malware from a phone tech support scam website or allowed a cybercriminal to access your computer, take these steps:

Change your computer's password, change the password on your main email account, and change the password for any financial accounts, especially your bank and credit card.

Install Microsoft Security Essentials. (Microsoft Security Essentials is a free program. If someone calls you to install this product and then charge you for it, this is also a scam.)

Will Microsoft ever call me?

There are some cases where Microsoft will work with your Internet service provider and call you to fix a malware-infected computer—such as during the recent cleanup effort begun in our botnet takedown actions. These calls will be made by someone with whom you can verify you already are a customer. You will never receive a legitimate call from Microsoft or our partners to charge you for computer fixes.